Everyone's Got Secrets
by lauraforthewinoswald
Summary: How Paul and Becca begin their unlikely romance and how Paul attempts to hide said romance from his good friend, Beth Latimer. Adding a secret affair to his secret AA meetings is stressful enough. But the secrets pile up even higher when Paul receives a phone call from jail.


"You can't really believe that." Becca scoffed as she poured another drink at the bar for two grouchy old patrons. "She's been a part of this community for years. We all know she'd never be capable of such a thing. Imagine what she must be going through, knowing the person she trusted most in the world was lying through their teeth for months. The poor thing. And now everyone is forcing her to leave her own home as her friends all turn their backs on her. She's already lost her family. We should be standing beside her, not shunning her. You're all bullies and hypocrites, everyone in this whole damn town."

The two patrons got up and left in a huff. "Yeah, fine! And stay out." Becca yelled as they walked out the door. Rev. Paul Coates smiled at her shyly from the other end of the bar. "Well..." Becca grabbed a pitcher of orange juice and refilled the reverend's glass. "I guess I should keep my rants to a minimum if I want to keep any customers." She laughed.

Paul had been meeting Becca at her bar since the day he moved to town. But it had become more and more frequent in recent weeks. He was drawn to her. As demure and professional as her style of dress always was, she still exuded a highly palpable sexual energy that few could escape. Paul wasn't too surprised to hear Becca talk about how even the usually frigid D.I. Hardy attempted to ask her out.

They'd developed a bit of an unlikely friendship. She told him everything and he did the same. Becca was the only person he ever told his problems to. Besides Hardy and Miller, Becca was the only person who knew about his past drinking problems.

"You were totally right about what you said." Paul replied. "That's the best thing about you. You're never afraid to speak the truth even when it's inconvenient."

"Your words can have a bit of bite too if you're riled up enough." Becca smiled. "Though you're far more diplomatic with your word choices than I am."

"I try to be." Paul took a sip of his juice.

"You know, Paul." Becca leaned on the counter and flashed him a flirtatious wink. "Since you say you love my directness, I'll cut to the chase here. I really like you, a lot."

"Really?" Paul looked happily surprised.

"Yeah, you know I fresh squeeze that orange juice for you every morning." Beca replied.

"It's not for your customer's mimosas?" Paul chuckled.

"Well, for that too but I think of you when I squeeze them." Becca smiled. She bit her lip for a moment and got a bit more serious. "Now I know you probably don't want to be seen with me in public but..."

"What do you mean?" Paul replied. "Any man would love to be seen with you. You're so incredibly..." He paused to find more diplomatic words. "You're... an attractive woman."

"You think so?" Becca winked again. "You know I'm a bit older than you."

"That's really not an issue for me." Paul laughed.

Becca blushed and got uncharacteristically shy. "I thought maybe with what you know about me and what I'd done... That you wouldn't be interested."

"Have I ever struck you as the judgemental type?" Paul replied. Becca shook her head no. "You know my big bad secret too so I'm in no place to pass judgement on you." He added.

"My secret's worse than yours." Becca frowned.

"Are we really going to have a contest about who's made the worst life decisions?" Paul replied. "Because get ready to lose."

Becca laughed and nudged Paul playfully. "See, this is why I like you. You're funny and far too sweet." She began to walk back to the register. "It's about closing time so I'm calling it a night. You don't have to make a decision right away but the proposition is out there if you're interested."

"I'm honestly flattered." Paul shyly smiled again as he stood up and put on his coat. "Stop by the church tomorrow and we'll talk."

"Sure thing." Becca waved goodbye as Paul walked out the door. She knew Paul was interested, he was just too morally upright to act like anything less than a perfect gentleman. She wanted him to show the darker, passionate side of him that he tried so hard to hide from people. She almost felt guilty about it, like she was almost too eager to corrupt him. It was a similar thing with Mark. It was wrong and forbidden and therefore she was interested. But Paul was different, she deeply cared for him and wanted a real relationship. Mark was just a game gone horribly wrong.

Paul wasn't sure what he was going to say or do yet. He definitely wanted to say yes. He was interested from the moment he met her. She was statuesque, strong and confident. But there was a small amount of truth to what she said. People didn't really talk about it but some people knew about the little affair she'd had with Mark. Of course none of the hate was ever directed at the man who'd just lost his son, it was all directed at Becca. She was the homewrecker and poor Mark was but a victim of circumstance. Although Paul disagreed with the double standard of the situation, he knew some people might talk.

Becca came the next day like he'd asked. She knocked on the open door to the office. "You busy?" She asked.

"For you, no." Paul stood up from his desk and walked towards her. "So.. last night..I..um.."

Becca closed the gap between them. "Just kiss me already, I know you're dying to."

Paul smiled and slowly leaned in to kissed her. Becca passionately returned the kiss. She grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him up against her. Then she moved her hands up to run her fingers through his hair. Paul held on to her hips with almost trembling hands. When Becca finally let go of his hair and Paul had a chance to breath, he said, "I.. haven't done this in a while. I need to slip back into this a bit more slowly or I fear I might pull a muscle."

Becca laughed. "Oh, well, we wouldn't want that." She straightened out the wrinkles she'd made on his shirt and fixed his clerical collar as it had gone askew mid snog.


End file.
